Furnace



Feb. 7, 1933. c s FRANKE 1,896,298

FURNACE Fild April 28, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet '1 c. s. FRANKE Feb. 7," 1933.

FURNACE filed April 28 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WVf/VTO Feb. 7, 1933. c s R 1,896,298

FURNACE I Filed April 28, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 7, 1933 OFFICE] L CLARENCE SCOTT FRANKE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO AIVIEBICA'N FURNACE COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI FURNACE Application filed April 28, 1930. Serial No. 447,806.

7 This invention relates generally to imnaces, and to motor-driven or mechanical means for circulating the air warmed therein.

One purpose of the present invention is to,

provide a fan or blower that will blow the air from the top of the furnace directlyinto a delivery pipe that extends laterally through the wall of the furnace casing.

Another object is to provide compact blowing means of this character that will have a minimum overall vertical dimension so as not to increase unduly the height of the furnace, while yet delivering a large volume of air, with a minimum of eddy currents and resistance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fan having its bearings located exteriorly of the furnace casing, so thatthey will be readily accessible for oiling, inspection and repairs.

Another object is to locate the motor for driving the fan exteriorly of the furnace casing for the same reasons and to avoid exposing the motor to the heated a1r-1n the interlor of the casing;

Another object is to provide a motor driven blower arrangement in which the motor and the blower will not extend above the top of the furnace, so as not to add unduly to its height.

Another object is to provide warm air delivery conduit means and blowing apparatus therefor which may be placed on or removed from the casing of the furnace as an assembled unit. I

Other objects, advantages and desirable features of the invention will appear in the course of the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the spirit thereof.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a furnace embodying the improvements of the present invention Figure 2 is a plan view of the same Figure 3 is a side elevation of the furnace; Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line A4111 Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional View taken on the line 5-5 in Figure 3 i Figure 6 is a bottom view of the cover or top of the furnace casing and the parts mounted thereon as it appears when detached from the furnace casing;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6 of a modified form of the invention;

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional view, similar to Figure 5, of the formof the invention shown in Figure 7; and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken on the line 9.9 in Figure 8.

The invention is embodied in awarm-air furnacehaving a direct fired heater 1 of any suitable or usual type, housed in and spaced from a casing 2, preferably of the usual sheet metal formatiomand comprising an upstanding wall or sleeve3, having an opening or openings 4 at its lower end for the entrance of air thereinto, and having its upper end closed by a canopy or cover 5, preferably bolted thereto to renderit more easily removable therefrom. Each opening 4 may be closed by a reticular plate or cover 6 to admit the air while excluding extraneous matter. The cover 5 is provided with a marginal strip of angle iron 7, the horizontal flange 8 of which is riveted to the underside of the cover, and the rising flange 9 of which is bolted to the inner side of the wall 3 at the'upper edge thereof. Means are borne by the cover and are removable therewith for delivering a blast of air laterally from the interior of the wall 3 to the exterior thereof.

The said means comprises a pair of beams 10, bolted to, the upper side of the cover 5 and passing through recesses therefor in the flange 9 to provide overhanging ends 11 and 12. Hangers 13 are bolted to the undersides of the overhanging portions 11 and 12 of the beams and are provided with bearings 14 for rotatably supporting a fan or blower shaft 15 at respective points adjacent the exterior side of the wall 3. A hanger 16 is bolted to the undersides-of the beams 10 at the extreme end of their overhanging porpling 19 to theb'lower shaft 15. The wall 3 is provided "with vertical slots 20 in its upper edge to accommodate the shaft 15 and per- :mit the vertical introduction or withdrawal of the latter therefrom, as best shown in Figure 3. Apair of centrifugal blowers or fans 21 are spaced apart in the casing '2 at opposite sides thereof and over the heater 1, the

shells or casings 22 of said blowers having their intake orifices 23 facing the space 24 between the blowers and having their discharge orifices 25 presented toward the wall 3. The shaft 15 passes through the intake orifices 23 and through apertures 26 provided therefor in the outer end walls 27 of the-casings 22. The outer end walls 28 of the blower rotors 29 are afiixed to collars 30, affixed to the shaft 15, and the blades '31 of the rotors are affixed at one end to said walls 28 and at the other end to frusto-conical rings 32. The blowers discharge directly into a conduit or pipe 33 that extends through a closely fitting recess therefor in the upper edge of the anterior portion of the wall 3 and preferably projects a short distance exteriorly of said wall to provide a short neck 34 that will fit into a delivery or manifold pipe (not shown) for conveying the warmed air to a desired point or points. The conduit 33 is preferably of a horizontally elongated rectangular cross-section, and has lateral walls 35, a bottom wall 36, and a top wall that includes a portion of the cover 5 and a portion or strip 37 that forms an extension of the latter exteriorly or anteriorly from its marginal .angle iron 7, the lateral walls 35 forming continuations of the outerlateral walls 27 of the blower shells 22, the top wall 5 forming continuations of the upper edges 38 of the discharge orifices 25 of the shells 22, and the bottom wall 36 forming continuations of the lower edges 39 of the orifices 25. The bottom wall 36 is provided with a V-shaped notch or opening 40 whose sides 41 converge from the orifices 25 to a point just within the anterior portion of the wall 3, as shown in Figures 5 and 6. A baffle shell 42 of pentahedronal formation is secured to the underside of the top wall 5 between the blowers 21 so as to present to the space 24 between the blowers a pair of converging lateral trapezoidal faces 43 and triangular end faces 44. The edges of the shell 42 are preferably pro vided with flanges 45 that are riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the cover 5. The blower rotors 29 and casings 22, the walls of the conduit 33 and the baffle shell are preferably formed of suitable sheet metal and riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the cover 5, so that they, together with the shaft 7 15 and motor 17 and associated parts form a single unit, that may be assembled before the cover is placed on the upper end of the upstanding sleeve 3, and then placed thereon or removed therefrom as an assembled unit, which facilitates inspection, repairs, and assembling of the furnace.

The construction of the furnace having been fully described, its operation "and ad vantages will be quite apparent. The blowers take in air from the central portion of the casingdirectly over the heater where the air is warmest, and discharge it horizontally directl into the laterally extending conduit 33, so t iat no elbows are necessary in the conduit 33 which would increase friction and eddy currents, as in prior devices in which the fan discharges upwardly and the air must consequently be deflected into the laterally extending discharge pipes. Moreover, the air discharged from the blowers streamsalong the lateral walls 35 of the conduit 33, entraining air intermediate said discharge streams from the space 24 intermediate the blowers 21, the stream of entrained air passing over, and aportion also rising through, the opening 40, the omission of lateral walls along the converging edges 41 affording lateral entrances to the conduit along which the conduit 33 enlarges from the blowers 21 to its outer or anterior end 34 to accommodate the additional volume of entrained air. It will be observed that means is hereby afforded to increase the cross-sectional area of the volume of air delivered from the furnace without providing an additional blower in the space 24 between the blowers, which would obstruct the blower inlets 23 and require that they be placed elsewhere, so that the air could not be taken in directly from the central portion of the cusing directly over the heater. The baflle 42 directs and facilitates the flow of warmed air into the blower inlets 23 and over and through the V-notch 40 in the bottom wall 36 into the conduit 33. It will also be appreciated that the bearings 14 and the motor 17 are located exteriorly of the casing 2.

The modification shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9 is arranged to discharge warmed air laterally from the furnace in opposite directions or from opposite sides of the furnace, one of the blowers discharging in a plane lower than the other so that it can discharge in the opposite direction to that of the other while both rotors are borne by the same shaft and rotate in the same direction. Otherwise stated, one of the blowers is inverted with relation to the other so that they discharge in opposite directions. It will be observed that each bottom wall 36 of each discharge conduit 33 is provided with an oblique edge 41 over which air is entrained into its conduit by the streams therein discharged from'their respective blowers. V y c Having thus fully described this invention, I hereby reserve thev benefit of all changes in form, arrangement, order, oruse of parts, as it is evident that many minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims.

, I claim:

l. The combination with a heater and a sleeve-like wall surrounding said heater, of a pair of blowers spaced apart in said sleeve at opposite sides thereof and over said heater, said blowers having their intake sides facing the space between the blowers and having their discharge sides presented toward the said wall and conduit means for conveying the discharges of the blowers through the said wall.

2. The combination, with a heater and a sleeve-like wall surrounding the heater, of a pair of blowers arranged in spaced-apart relation at opposite sides of and over said heater, said blowers having their intake sides facing the space between the blowers and having their outlet sides presented toward the said wall, conduit means for conveying the discharges of the blowers through the said wall and a baflie interposed between said blowers and adapted to divide'a current of air from the top of said heater to direct a portion toward each intake side.

3. The combination, with a heater and a wall forming an upstanding sleeve surrounding said heater, of a pair of blowers arranged in spaced-apart relation at opposite sides of and over said heater, said blowers having their intake sides facing the space between the blowers and having their outlet sides presented toward the same side of the sleeve, and a warm air delivery conduit extending through the sleeve wall, said conduit being arranged to receive the discharge streams of said blowers at respective sides of its inlet end and having an opening intermediate said discharge streams to entrain air from the space intermediate the blowers.

4. The combination, with a heater and a wall forming an upstanding sleeve surrounding said heater, of a pair of blowers arranged in spaced-apart relation at opposite sides of and over said heater, said blowers having their intake sides facing the space between the blowers and having their outlet sides presented toward the same side of the sleeve, a warm air delivery conduit extending through the sleeve wall, said conduit being arranged to receive the discharge streams of said blowers at respective sides of its inlet end and being open intermediate said discharge streams to entrain air from the space intermediate the blowers, and a baffle arranged in the upper portion of the space between said blowers to facilitate the flow of air from said space to the inlets of the blowers and into the conduit between the discharge streams therein.

5. The combination of a heater, an upstanding sleeve surrounding saidheater, a; cover for the upper end of said sleeve, a beam secured to the upper side of said cover and having overhanging ends, a fan secured to the underside of the cover and having a drive shaftjwhose ends extend exteriorlyof said sleeve underneath the overhanging portions of said beam, and bearings borne by the overhanging portions of said beam to receive the exterior portions of said shaft. a 6. In a furnace, a substantially horizontal shaft having an exteriorly projecting end,- a heater, a pairof blowers in the upper end ofthe furnace driven by said shaft and spaced apart. directly above said heater with their intake ends presented to the space intermediate said blowers, and a motor arrangedexteriorly of the furnace and having a driving. connection with the exteriorly projecting end of the shaft.

7 In a furnace, a horizontally elongated hot-air dischargeforifice at the upper end thereof, a pair of blowers arranged in spaced-f apart relationship to each other so as to discharge streams of hot-air from the furnace through the orifice at respective opposite ends of the latter, said orifice being sufficiently elongated horizontally to provide a substan-, tial space intermediate the courses at the sides traversed by said streams whereby said streams entrain air from the furnace and draw it through the part of the orifice 'inter mediate said streams.

8. In a furnace, a heater, a casing inclosing said heater to provide a space around the sides of and above the heater, a centrifugal blower in the casing at one side of and above said heater, said blower having its axis substantially horizontal and drawing in air axially and discharging it tangentially, the axial in-. take opening of said blower facing the space directly above said heater, and a discharge conduit extending from said blower through said casing in the direction of discharge of the blower, said conduit opening to the space directly above said heater so that the stream from the blower will entrain air through said opening into the conduit, the outer end of the conduit being larger than the blower outlet to accommodate both the blower stream and the entrained stream. 2

. 9. The combination, with a heater anda wall formingan upstanding sleeve surrounding said heater, of a centrifugal blower in the. sleeve at one side thereof and above said heater, said blower having its axis substantially horizontal and drawing in air axially and discharging it tangentially in a substantially horizontal direction, the axial intake opening of said blower facing the space directly above said heater, and a discharge conduit extending from said blower in the direction ofits discharge and throughthe wall of the sleeve, the inner end of said conduit being open to the, space directly above said heater as well as to the discharge end of said blower, whereby the stream from the blower entrains additional air from the space above said heater, and the outer end of said conduit being elongated horizontally to accommodate both the blower stream and the entrained stream.

10. In a furnace, a heater, a casing inclosing said heater to provide a space around the sides of and above the heater, a centrifugal blower in the casing at one side of and above said heater, said blower having its axis substantially horizontal and drawing in air axially and discharging it tangentially, the axial intake opening of said blower facing the space directly above said heater, a discharge conduit extending from said blower through said casing in the direction of discharge of the blower, and provisions on the underside of the top of the casing for deflecting the stream of air rising from the top of the heater toward the intake opening of the blower and toward the opening at the v inner end of theconduit.

11. In a furnace, a heater, a wall forming an upstandlng sleeve surrounding said heat- 7 er, a cover for the top of said sleeve, a centri-fugal blower in the sleeve at one side thereof and immediately below said cover, said blower having its axis substantially horizontal and drawing in air axially straight from the space directly above said heater and discharging it tangentially in a substantially horizontal direction above the axis of the blower, and a discharge conduit immediately below said cover and extending from said blower in the direction of its discharge and through the wall of the sleeve, the inner end of said conduit being open to the space direct- 1y above said heater as well as to thedischarge end of said blower, whereby the stream of air from the blower entrains additional air from the space above said heater, and the outer end of said conduit being elongated horizontally to accommodate both the blower stream and the entrained stream.

v 12. In a furnace, a heater, a casing inclosing said'heater to provide a space around the sides of and above the heater, a substantially horizontal shaft in the casing above said heater and extending through to the exterior, a pair of centrifugal blowers spaced apart on said shaft, each of said blowers have axial intake openings presented to the space intervening them, both blowers discharging in one common direction, and a discharge conduit common to both of said blowers and ex-. tending from said blowers through said casing in the direction of discharge of the blowers.

13. In a furnace,'a heater, a. casing inclosing said heater to provide a space around the sides and top of the heater, a pair of centrifugal-blowers in the upper end of the ass ing at opposite sides thereof and having axial intake openings directly above the heater that face the space intervening them, both blowers discharging in one common direction, and a discharge conduit common to both of said blowers and extending from said blowers through said casing in the direction of discharge of the blowers, said conduit opening to the interior of the casing intermediate the discharge outlets of the blowers.

14. In a furnace, a heater, a casing inclosing said heater to provide a space around the sides of and above the heater, a substantially horizontal shaft in the casing above said heator and extending through to the exterior, a pair of centrifugal blowers spaced apart on said shaft, each'of said blowers having axial intake openings presented to the space intervening the blowers, each blower discharging in a tangential direction different from that of its companion blower, and individual discharge conduits for said blowers, each conduit extending through the casing in the direction of disc-harge'of its associated blower.

15. In a furnace, a heater, a casing inclosing said heater to provide a space around the sides of and above the heater, a substantially horizontal shaft in the casing above said heater and extending through to the exterior, a pair of centrifugal blowers spaced apart on said shaft, each of said blowers having axial intake openings presented to the space intervening the blowers, each blower discharging in a tangential direction different from that of its companion blower, and individual discharge conduits for said blowers, each conduit extending through the casing in the direction of discharge of its associated blower, the inner end of each conduit opening to the space above said heater as well as to-the discharge outlet of its associated blower. In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

CLARENCE SCOTT FRANKE. 

